A proposed ban on the controversial patenting of human genetic material has lost the support of a Senate committee which threatens to renew the intense debate that has pitched patients and doctors against researchers and biotech companies.

Eugenics — the science of improving the race —was a powerful influence on the development of Western civilisation in the first half of the twentieth century. And Melbourne’s elite were among its chief proponents. In this period all the institutions and practices of modern societies came into being and eugenics played an important role in moulding them.

Every adult generation in history has worried about the young people following in their wake. Youth have almost always been found wanting, seemingly lacking the attributes and qualities necessary for lifelong success. That adults are currently deeply worried about the current “Entitlement Generation” follows in a well-established pattern. But, if the experience of many university professors is a guide, adults may be right this time.

Victorian health experts are calling for a minimum price on alcohol to combat alcohol abuse. A symposium is being held in Melbourne today to help shape the Victorian Government's alcohol and drug strategy. Professor Dan Lubman from the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre says the accessibility of alcohol must be addressed.

Could there be a worse place in the world to be a doctor than the Netherlands? Not because of the standard of its health care; it has one of the highest life expectancies in the world and one of the lowest infant mortality rates. But because the professional association of Dutch physicians has decreed that euthanasia is an integral part of a doctor’s job.

There is a high-stakes game being played out between Crown’s Melbourne and Perth casinos and Echo Entertainment Group’s newly renamed The Star Casino in Sydney. Echo has spent $960 million on its upgrade but Crown will have spent almost $2.1 billion across its two casinos by the time everything is finished.

Western Australia's Premier Colin Barnett says he's disgusted by the racial vilification of Aboriginal land owners who support a gas hub near Broome. Newsletters are being distributed in Broome deriding the Aboriginal groups who support Woodside's $30 billion liquefied natural gas hub as "money-hungry coconuts". Traditional land owners signed a deal with the WA government and Woodside in June to allow the project at James Price Point to go ahead in exchange for $1.5 billion in community, education and employment benefits.

A Cape-York style of voluntary income management is sorely needed in South Australia's Anangu, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Lands, which have been compared to Somalia by the former chief of the Northern Territory intervention.

Chris Malcolm is well aware of how the Red Cross recently delivered food parcels to hungry families in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, a vast, indigenous-owned region in South Australia's northwest.

All societies have defined marriage as the voluntary union for life of a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others, for self-fulfilment and open to the begetting of children. Nature and history have abundantly shown that this true marriage is the bedrock of society and must be protected for the proper birthing, bonding, nurturing, and the best security, identity and education of children.

Tasmania's Lower House has become the first in the country to vote in favour of same-sex marriage. The Greens motion is supported by Labor MPs and calls on the Federal Government to change the Marriage Act, but it does not have the full support of the Tasmanian Parliament because it was not considered by the Upper House.

DJ and flash mob maestro Dan Murphy is teaming with GetUp this Sunday September 25 to shoot a large-scale video in support of marriage equality at Sydney Town Hall. Without giving the surprise away, the idea is to fill the ground floor of Sydney Town Hall with hundreds of supporters of marriage equality. Participants will work together to represent visually how the statistics in support of same-sex marriage have increased over time.

The international community ignored the warning signs and has reacted too late as East Africa falls victim to a massive famine. This is the conclusion of Salesians of Don Bosco, who are organising aid relief amid worsening reports of famine centring on Somalia and spreading to Ethiopia and Kenya. Warnings of a humanitarian disaster came in December 2010 but at the time “nobody was listening”, Mattia Grandi, one of the local Salesian project coordinators told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

A Christian man accused of blasphemy in Pakistan died of tropical fever in prison on Sept. 9, after the prison authorities refused him treatment, The Christian Post has learned. Aslam Masih died reportedly of the dengue virus, an infectious tropical disease.

Tony Abbott's refusal to rescue Julia Gillard's border security policy has sparked new speculation about her grip on the Labor leadership, amid growing nervousness on the backbench. And the Coalition has sought to capitalise on Labor's jitters, fanning rumours that dumped prime minister Kevin Rudd has been "working the phones" to drum up a leadership challenge while attending a UN meeting in New York.

The Australian government faces a difficult situation. Who should it consult on issues of Muslim integration and radicalism? Who represents Islam? Is it the overseas-trained imams who have a firm grip on classical Islamic jurisprudence? Is it the grassroots community leaders who may not have the training of the imams, but have their finger on the pulse of their communities?

The ABC has been swamped with complaints about its "low rent"
elevision show about Prime Minister Julia Gillard. At Home with Julia - which has been described as "tasteless" and "offensive" - has left the network scrambling to defend its image while it moved to gag the show's creators. And the viewers are not impressed: the Herald Sun can reveal the ABC has received 463 complaints about the show since it aired just two weeks ago.